Fall From Grace
by Around Here Somewhere
Summary: Picks up at the end of 3x15. Fitz just completely lost the one person in the world that meant anything to him. All because of something that happened way to long ago to even matter. Now let's see if/how he can even dream to get her back. Lots of Angst, and Angry Fitz. Also, in which Fitz gets everything that's coming to him...


Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Scandal, I'm just a fan. First chapter will have a lot of dialogue from 3x15, those words are not mine.

A/N: So, this picks up after/towards the end of 3x15. It's not nearly the end of the line for OLITZ, merely a more significant bump in the road than usual. (lol that is my condolence. Also, slightly bigger bump = slightly bigger make-up) Anyways, this is me trying to figure out how the hell Fitz would ever be able to correct himself and make it up to Liv on the way back… so yeah, it's rated M because I don't want restrictions, but don't expect much right away, or necessarily at all… Enjoy if you can (chins up, loves)

Fall From Grace

Prologue

"Fitz…"

"I AM TALKING TO MY WIFE."

He shouted it in anger, the same anger that had boiled up the minute that Karen had mentioned Mellie and Andrew. They had been fucking the whole time, that was the reason that their marriage had fallen apart. Was Karen even his? It wasn't him. It wasn't him becoming his father and not being able to keep it in his pants. All the guilt trips, and Mellie screaming at him to get over Olivia, when there was no way that he could – it wasn't his fault. The cause of death hadn't been him and Olivia, it had been Mellie, and he had never tried to say it. He had just let it fester. She didn't want him, so why would she get so upset that he was with Olivia – why would she care? Why on God's fucking planet would she care that he was in love with Olivia if she was off fucking Andrew all day long, whenever she could manage it? Why was he the one in the wrong? Why was this all on him? He paused as he looked at Liv, standing in the doorway. Her eyes were wide like he had just stabbed her in the back, only it was worse, he had just pulled out a shot gun and blew a hole right in her chest.

She nods, like she's finally understanding – but she doesn't.

"Liv," His words still seem angry, but he doesn't know how to turn it off, "I'm sorry."

She turned, and left, and he threw his hands up. He stood there for almost a full moment, in silence.

"Fuck," He shouted in anguish, throwing his tie down on the floor as he went to follow her out of the mansion.

He had to catch her, there was no point. There was no point to fighting with Mellie over things that didn't matter. He didn't care that she was having the affair, just that she had been so hypocritical about it – made him the bad guy when he wasn't. Liv was – everything, and if he didn't stop her from leaving then he knew that he was never going to see her again. He broke into a run as he went past the elevator and down the stairs instead, maybe he could beat her down there. He could feel his face getting hot, hotter than it had been – this couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be fucking happening. He was almost out when he noticed a block ahead of him, and didn't register what it was – his vision was blurry – until he made contact.

"The hell?" Cyrus took hold of him by the arms, "Fitz, what the hell are you doing? You have an interview in twenty minutes. Are you crying?"

"Liv left," He said, and Cyrus raised his eyebrows.

"WHAT?"

"I shouted at her, it wasn't her fault," Fitz said, as Cyrus held him at arm's length, "I have to go, I have to stop her. I can't – I can't lose her…"

"Fitz, calm the fuck down," Cyrus said angrily, and Fitz pulled his head back, afraid that Cyrus might smack him, "I will go and get her. You go back upstairs and put your tie back on."

"I can't – "

"I know," Cyrus told him, "What are you going to do? Run out onto the grounds? You'll have about eighty secret service agents on you the minute you hit the lobby. You won't be able to make it to her, sir. I can get her. I'll bring her back. Wait in the spare bedroom, ok?"

Fitz nodded, stiffened his lip, and wiped his face with his forearm. Cyrus didn't waste much more time, he was on the phone with Morris before he was even down the rest of the hallway, telling him to delay her on the way out. He took a breath, he still wanted to go – but he had the feeling that even while it should be him going to get her, she would probably just blow him off. He took another breath, and punched the wall as he turned and headed towards the elevator. He hadn't even paused to check if the wall had any damage, cause he really hoped it did. Tom caught up with him as he walked onto the elevator.

"Sir," Tom said as the doors closed.

"I don't need a lecture, Tom," Fitz said, "I'm going back to the residence, don't worry. I'll be a good-fucking-boy."

"Sir," Tom said and Fitz looked over at him.

Tom handed him his tie.

"Thanks."

"She'll come back, sir," Tom told him and Fitz nodded.

"But should she?" Fitz asked himself more than Tom, "It's no secret that I've never deserved her – now? She should run as far as she can from this God forsaken place, away from me."

"It's going to be ok, Sir," Tom assured him as they got off the elevator.

"Thanks – but I really don't think it will."

Tom walked with him over to the room to wait for Liv. He took a deep breath and Tom nodded understandingly as he walked further up to wait outside. He walked into the room and put his hands on the top of his head. What the _fuck_ had he just done? He kept his hands clapped up on the top of his head as he stared out the window. His anger at Mellie had switched onto himself, and his brain couldn't stop spinning as he stared pointedly out the window. Until he heard the door open and close.

"Olivia, I am so sorry. I let my anger spill over, I shouldn't have never –" He started with an attempted apology.

"I'm working. I am at work. This is my job." She said it more to herself than to him.

"I didn't mean what I said," He started to try and explain, but she didn't want to hear it.

"No. Listen. To. Me. All of this, your regret, your apologies – you need to direct it towards your children, towards your _wife – _"

"Livy - " He needed to correct her.

"We are twenty minutes away from a live interview with a very important journalist that will be seen by tens of millions of people around the world. So, right now you are going to fix your family, because this is not my place."

She paused, but he got the idea that if he tried to say anything, she would cut him off again.

"I am at work. This is my job. If this interview turns into a disaster then I will have failed at my job, and I cannot afford to fail at my job right now because IT IS ALL I HAVE LEFT."

He stood in front of her. She wouldn't let him talk to her right now. He didn't deserve the chance to even attempt to try and fix his relationship with her. He had lost sight of it, for an old dead argurment with Mellie. No matter how that argument had gone, no matter how he had attacked the subject with Mellie – it wouldn't make any difference. He was still in love with Olivia, their relationship, or whatever you could call it – his ignorance? – was dead. Had been a long time.

"GO."

He obeyed. The interview was in less than twenty minutes, and he had to get his 'family' out in front of the cameras. The last thing he wanted to do was make it worse, even if there was already enough damage to warrant her pinning him to a wall and throwing darts at him until he had very slowly bled out. He tried to focus on one thing as he went through the interview, but even with a happy smile plastered onto his face, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering. He was up the second that the cameras shut off, but Olivia was gone. She had taken off about as soon as the interview had started, and he was panicking again.

Then he thought of something. Since James had passed away, she had been helping out down in the press room. He was just heading towards the hallway that lead to it when Tom stopped him. Fitz allowed it, and further allowed Tom to pull him aside, and into a different room.

"Miss Pope has left the premises, sir," Tom informed him, and Fitz nodded – perfect.

The kids – predictably – both went into their rooms and closed their doors as soon as they had gotten back to the residence. One of Teddy's nannies handed Fitz the child, and Fitz carried him on his hip over to the living room. For show, Mellie kept a couple stuffed toys on the couch – even though Teddy was hardly allowed to be in the room. He set Teddy down on the ground, and handed him the toys. They weren't exactly his favorite toys, so he was tossing them at the wall – which was just fine with Fitz as he sat on the couch – not really looking anywhere but directly in front of him. He was only vaguely aware that one of the nannies had come in and taken Teddy to bed.

"Dad?" Gerry asked as he walked out to the living room, "It's almost midnight, what're you doing out here?"

"Take a seat," Fitz told him, not really looking up.

"I – "

"You can go back to tweeting later," Fitz said, looking to the floor, then back up at Gerry, "Give your dad just a minute?"

"Fine," Gerry replied as he sat on the other end of the couch, "It really blows, mom and Uncle Andrew."

Interesting choice of words.

"I don't really care about it that much," He said, and Gerry gave him a look – Fitz shrugged, "Just promise me something, ok kid?"

"What?"

"When you find the woman you love – don't trade her for anything. Not even if she tries to make you," Fitz said, taking a deep breath, "Make her priority number one, from day one."

"Are you talking about Jeanine?"

"No, not – God, no," Fitz said and Gerry raised an eyebrow, "I didn't – I'm sorry."

"You said that earlier."

"No, Gerry – I'm sorry I put the whole family what I have," He said, and Gerry nodded, "Not just the past few months. You and Karen never asked, or wanted to be the first kids – Teddy – I should have never – If I had just done it right away, if I had come clean right away – "

"What're you talking about, dad?" Gerry asked, and Fitz shook his head.

"What I'm saying is – "

"Gerry," Mellie cut him off as she walked into the room, "I think it's about time you went to bed."

"Don't try and tell me what to do, whore."

"Hey," Fitz told him, "Easy, go ahead."

"Fine," Gerry said, getting up and heading back towards his room.

"What's the matter with you?" Mellie said rather wretchedly as she came into Fitz's view and he realized that she was holding a quarter-empty bottle of scotch, "That interview went fantastic. You're climbing polls as we speak."

"I don't give a shit about the interview," Fitz said, getting up and starting to head out of the room.

"What?"

"I'm losing her, Mellie. I. lost. her." Fitz shouted at her, then added more calmly, "Congratulations, you win for another four years. Then, I'm out."

"She'll come back, Fitz," Mellie rolled her eyes, "She always does – God only knows why. She's a smart girl, beautiful – Heaven only knows why she ever wanted you in the first place."

"Enough," Fitz said.

"Oh, poor Fitz," Mellie said, "His little whore ran away from him."

"Don't you fucking dare call her that ever again," Fitz crossed the room, a dangerous look in his eye.

Mellie seemed a little scared.

"Don't you dare call her anything," Fitz said, "Your daddy's the one that sold you, Mellie. Not her's. I can't be president with out her – I can't be me without her. And I lost her because of your little fucking stunt. What's the matter, Mellie? You don't want me, I don't want you, but you don't want anyone else to have me either? Selfish fucking power-hungry whore – that's exactly what you are."

He took a deep breath as he watched what he had said sink in on her face. Then took another, before speaking again.

"I'm sleeping in Teddy's room," He said, "Unless you'd rather go find Andrew. No? Ok then."

Olivia took a deep breath and adjusted her bag on her shoulder so that it wasn't slipping off anymore as she sat in the hospital room. The machine was beeping next to where she was sitting, and it was of some comfort – at least she knew that he was still alive. Harrison, who was lying in a coma on the bed in front of her, was at least still alive. His brain had swelled up, causing him to fall into a shock state. It was a very good thing that Abby had found him when she had. The only problem was, Olivia recognized the symptoms, the foaming mouth, the brain swelling. Someone – and by someone, her first thought was B613 – and she reached over and took Harrison's hand. She was afraid to leave, if this really was B613, a doctor and a couple of nurses weren't going to do anything. She took a deep breath and checked her watch.

"Sorry," Huck bumbled as he walked into the room, his laptop bag over his shoulder, "I ran into a little traffic."

"Thanks for coming," Olivia said, sniffling up half a tear as she stood up, dropping Harrison's harm.

"What's the diagnosis?" Huck asked her.

"Same as last night, we won't know anything until he wakes up," She said, then sighed, "If he wakes up."

"Right," Huck said as he went over and sat next to Harrison's bed, the beeps still filling the room.

"Thanks, for doing this, Huck," Olivia said as she adjusted her bag again.

"No problem," Huck said, opening up his laptop, "I can work here for a while – I'm not just going to leave him. Are you headed to the White House?"

"To the office," She told him quickly, and he seemed surprised, "Do you need anything? Coffee? Some weird transmitter?"

"No, I'm all set," Huck replied, and Olivia nodded as she headed out of the room.

It was a thirty minute drive in tburaffic from the hospital to the office, and as soon as she could hear her Fitz burner phone ringing in the front seat before she opened the door. She took a deep breath, not really paying any specific attention to the phone ringing in the front seat, as she set her back into the backseat. She shut the door with possibly a little more force than she would have used normally, and went to open the drivers' side door. She opened it up quick, then snatched the phone off the seat. She left the door open as she walked around the back of the car. She smiled, pretending to a passerby that she might have been getting something out of the trunk. Then, she leaned down and set the phone – which had gone silent – behind one of the back tires.

She wasn't sad – sad had been last night – with all the self pity that she was able to have alone in Harrison's room. Tears the Nurses could think were for Harrison, which in part they were. Today, today she was angry. Angry she had let herself fall for Fitz, angry she had led her team, her people, into danger over and over again for him. She was done – this was just the moment, the cathartic anger that she needed to get over him. So she barely breathed differently as she stood back up, and went back to her drivers' seat, shut the door, and backed her car up and over the phone.

"Look who decided she's hanging out at the office today," Abby commented as Olivia walked in, and Olivia just took a breath, "Where's everyone else?"

"Well, Stephen left," Abby said, "Harrison's in the Hospital, Quinn joined the dark side, Huck's guarding Harrison in the hospital, and – that's everyone accounted for."

"Is it?"

"Well your real boyfriend's at the White House – "

"He's not my boyfriend anymore."

"Ok, not your boyfriend this week is at the White House," Abby said, and Olivia didn't even bother to roll her eyes, "And your fake boyfriend killed your best friend's husband, and now you're really worrying that he also tried to kill Harrison."

"Ok," Olivia said, taking a deep breath.

"Oh, and I'm here," David said as he walked into the conference room.

"You brought help," Olivia said, heading into her office – and they followed.

"I got the bat signal," David said as he and Abby paused in front of her desk, "The way I hear it, once a gladiator, always a gladiator."

"Don't – say that," Olivia replied, and David went solemn.

"Ok – my bad," David said, and Olivia nodded.

"David, I want you to deliver all of our grant campaign files to Cyrus Beene at the White House," Olivia said, and Abby's eyebrows shot up.

"We're giving up the White House case?" Abby asked, and Olivia shook her head.

"They're doing better now," Olivia told her, "I can be on-call for them. There's no reason – "

"They're down a press secretary, and people are starting to say it's a marked job," Abby said, "And they're down a friend."

"They will be fine," Olivia replied, "Make sure Cyrus knows he can call me if he needs anything. Abby, their being down a press secretary is not our problem."

"Olivia – "

"Not our problem, Abby," Olivia told her, and then she looked over at David, "Go."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Olivia," Abby said, and Olivia looked up – Abby ran over and shut the door, "Why are we all but ditching the White House? What the hell happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Abby," Olivia said, and Abby didn't believe it for a second, "I am working. Huck has to watch over Harrison in his coma that no one knows if he's going to wake up from. Stephen is gone. And Harrison was probably murdered. My fake boyfriend murdered a friend in cold blood, and you're right, I don't know if he would do it again. Actually I do, and I don't even like the answer. On top of all of that, I had a really rough night last night – so, yes, Abby. I am fine. I am working."

"Ok."

"Find me a case?"

"We had to unplug the phone the other day," Abby replied, "Give me ten minutes."

It only took her five before she was back in her office, a senator that had been trying to get their attention for a couple of days. She was in town, and hoping that she could meet with Olivia while in the area. Abby had already called her, and they were about ready for her to show up when the elevator outside dinged. It was surprising to her how quiet the office was with just her and Abby there. Abby went to go over and wait by the door, but stopped when Olivia's phone started to go off. Olivia looked panicked for a second as she pulled her phone out.

"You want me to answer it?" Abby asked in what Olivia was sure was a mostly sarcastic tone.

'Cyrus Beene' the name popped up, bouncing on her screen.

"I should be ok," Olivia said, walking toward her office, "Let her know I'll be right with her."

Olivia walked into her office, and shut the door behind her. She braced herself as much as she could within a few seconds' time, and sat down on her couch to answer it.

"Hello, Cyrus."

"Is this a joke?" Cyrus asked, she could tell he was fighting very hard to stay at least semi-calm, "Are you throwing a fit? Taking your ball and going home? Because that is not you, Olivia."

"Stop, right there, Cyrus," Olivia said, and then let a moment pass, "I am doing my job as I should have been doing it from the beginning. I have a business to run, and you all do not need me there at all times. I am not the maid, Cyrus. I am a public relations expert, I'm a lawyer with my LLM, and a fantastic reputation. If you guys over there need me, you can call me. I'm still in, I'll set up interviews, help research for debates, but show up when I need to – but I do not need to be there all day, all week. Especially not today."

"Fine, thanks for the files," Cyrus said.

"I thought you might need them."

"He really fucked up this time, huh?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Cyrus."

"You went from family Olivia to business/client Olivia in less than ten seconds."

"It's fine, Cyrus."

"I switched out his scotch with apple juice," Cyrus told her, like that was supposed to make her feel better, "All of it."

"Cyrus.."

"He threw it across the room like a child," Cyrus said, and Olivia smiled.

"You're a good friend, Cy," She told him.

"I try, but also I couldn't let him get smashed today, he has campaign speeches to make," Cyrus said, and Olivia nodded, "Should I come by with a bottle of wine tonight? James' parents took Ella through Monday."

"I'll text you when I'm heading home. Bring two bottles," She said.

"Ok."

"And Cyrus?"

"Yes?"

"Let him drink, I'm done."

"Mmm," Cyrus replied, very much like he didn't believe her, "Bye, Liv. Text me when you're home."

"Bye, Cy."

She hung up the phone, and her day was a blur from there. Her phone only rang once with a question of a problem from Cyrus – but most of the next two days she had already somewhat meticulously planned – so they would be fine. Senator Jillian Caper on the other hand, she was less convinced would be fine. She had been holding the roof on a pretty significant secret – her own connections with a certain underground society, commonly known as the Mafia – specifically from New York.

"Is the Mafia even still a thing anymore?" Abby asked as they retreated into her office, and Olivia shrugged.

"Influential families never really fade out, do they?" Olivia replied, and Abby nodded, "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to figure out a way to distance her from this – as much as possible. Make sure that when they're found out she is not associated…"

"Girls' club," Abby replied, and Olivia nodded.

"Let's go."

The case was going fairly well. They had Huck looking into it, making sure there was no evidence of connections between her and her father's – corporation. He was running that from the hospital with Harrison while she and Abby were looking into the public records. Seeing was connections could be drawn with just a little light reporting. If, when or if her father or one of his associates was taken into custody, if her name would pop up in a web search, or even with a little more investigative reporting. Her mother had left her father, and fled when she was small – so she was locked, and not many people other than them knew that he was her father in the first place. This was all comforting, so – they just had to wait for Huck's searches to come back, and report in full before they closed the case. Before Senator Caper could sleep at night knowing her career wasn't going to be tarnished by something beyond her control.

The feeling that washed over Olivia as she walked up the stairs to her apartment was like no other. This was what it was like to wear the White Hat again, to be the savior riding in on a white horse rather than Cinderella, waiting on the stepsisters hand and foot. The only problem was, Cinderella got Prince Charming in the end – Enough. No more fairytales. They were lies. She wasn't getting Prince Charming, because there was no Prince Charming. There was just a well-aging man with a murders' rapsheet, devilish smile, and who would say anything to make Cinderella think that she was worth something to him, even if she wasn't. There was just Fitz. And who wanted him?

She took a deep breath as she landed on her floor, and passed the elevator going towards her door. There was a feeling that she got in the pit of her stomach as she turned the corner and saw Tom and Hal standing in the wallway, blocking a third person from view. She took a deep breath, stopping at her end of the hall as Fitz popped out from around Hal.

"Liv – Livy," He said desperately.

"You have a speech in an hour," She told him, and he froze as she walked by him and over to her door.

"Liv, don't – c'mon," He said as she went into her apartment, and shut the door in his face, "Liv, please? Let me explain. Let me talk, please? How could you just assume…"

She went straight to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. He would have to leave eventually, and she drank about half of it before going over and peeking through the hole and there was Fitz. He was still standing in the hall. He knocked on the door again, knowing that she was looking out at him.

"Go home, Fitz," She said out the door and he shook his head.

"I'm not going anywhere," He said, "At least not until you at least hear me out."

Olivia walked away from the door and pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a deep breath. She scrolled her contacts until she found Jake's name – then paused. She went to the counter and poured herself a glass of wine again. It was down her throat before she had even put the bottle back down on the counter. She had to fill her lungs again – Fitz was still trying to talk to her through the door.

"Olivia?" Jake answered the phone like he couldn't believe his caller ID, "What's the matter? It must be bad if you're calling me."

"There's someone outside my door – I want him gone," Olivia replied, quietly, and Jake sighed as she picked up the rest of the bottle of wine, hugging it to her chest.

"Someone's bothering you, Liv?" His voice temporarily spiked in frequency.

"Yes."

"I'll be right there."

She hung up and went over to the door.

"…Liv, I'm so sorry."

She slipped down the length of her door, sitting with her back to it on the floor.

"Livy, please. I didn't mean it. I flew off the handle – it didn't have anything to do with you."

Lies.

"I love you."

The lie.

"I will always love you – I don't even know why I got so upset."

Maybe he was lying to himself, too.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Fitz asked suddenly, and Olivia started drinking more, from the bottle.

"I'm coming home," Jake said, "Perks of being the official boyfriend – though, I'm assuming since she doesn't want you here…"

"Get out of here, Jake."

"You're just lucky she called me, and not the cops," Jake said, "Now, go home, Fiz. You're not needed."

"You don't get to tell me where I'm – "

"Well she's the one who called me, and asked me to get you to leave," Jake replied, as Olivia peaked through her hole to see them standing in the hallway, Jake had managed to get himself between Fitz and the door, "And I'm pretty low on her list of people she likes right now, so I can't imagine where you might be. I mean, unless she wants me to kill you, which I'm guessing not. She'd probably want to do that herself, if that was her goal…"

"Good show, Jake," Fitz narrowed his gaze at him, "But we both know there's only one guy that she loves."

"Do we?" Jake asked, and Fitz furrowed his brow, "I may not know exactly what you did to cause your fall from grace – I might assume it would be your marriage, your children, or your general asshole like qualities – but who knows really? I guess you might. Anyway – do we know that she only cares for you? Because last I checked – she wasn't sure. And right about now I think not being sure about me, is a hell of a better position to be in than the one you are, sir."

Fitz went to take a swing at Jake, and Jake caught his fist.

"You should go," Jake told him, with enough quiet force that Fitz turned and left, Tom and Hal flanking his sides.

Jake stood protectively in front of her door until the elevator came, Fitz gave a sad look over his shoulder, and then got on to disappear. Olivia took a deep breath, and put the bottle down on the counter.

"Liv, open the door," Jake said, knocking lightly, "Liv? Please – let me just see that you're ok."

"You don't care if I'm ok."

"I was here in two minutes."

"Jake – no."

"Harrison wasn't me," He said, calmly through the door – but James still was, "But we're looking into it. As soon as I find out who it was, I'll have the name for you."

"And a body?"

"Liv…"

"Jake, go – thank you," She said, peeking through to give him some indication that she was actually there, "Thank you for getting rid of him. But please, just go."

"C'mon – Liv. He was about to release secrets about everyone you know and love. Everyone – "

"Who deserved to die more than James," Olivia replied, and she took a deep breath, "And James died in a carjacking."

"Right."

"Well, Cyrus is on his way," Olivia told him,"He's still having trouble – he's blaming the carjacker. God knows what he would try to do if he saw him."

"Understood."

A/N: So I turned this into a oneshot because I wasn't going to finish it... trust me... something is coming... be on the lookout it'll be called The Redeemed.


End file.
